Faith
by DayOwl
Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back.
1. Default Chapter

Faith  
  
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.  
  
Chapter I  
  
November 30, 2002  
  
Adam waited, pacing liked a caged panther, in the lounge at Sanctuary for the three members of his team to join him. Just three, because the meeting he had called was about the fourth. Fourth, but first in his heart.  
  
Was it just days ago the two of them had been curled together in his bed, savoring their last moments together before he had to take the trip to Washington? "I think I'll come in here to sleep every night," she told him. "So I don't miss you so much."  
  
"And what am I going to do so I don't miss you so much?" he asked.  
  
She rolled over on top of him, grinning, her long red locks falling forward and tickling his face. "Think about all the things I'm going to do with you when you get back." Then she'd kissed him deeply, and they'd made love again.  
  
What had happened in the three days he'd been gone? How could everything have unraveled in such a short time span? He still smelled her shampoo; still felt every curve of her pressed against him, eager, wanting him as much as he wanted her. He groaned softly. Oh, Emma. I will get you back. Or die trying.  
  
"Adam?" Jesse was the first to arrive. "What's so urgent?" He was wearing a blue silk shirt and black jacket. Adam winced; he had interrupted Jesse's date. Damn.  
  
Before Adam could reply, Brennan and Shalimar arrived, smiling and joking. They both wore running suits. "Yeah, well, next time, you get the guy with the greasy hands," Brennan said to her. There was obviously a story behind that remark, but Adam didn't care to ask.  
  
"Welcome back, Adam," Shalimar said, peeling off her jacket. "Did you just get in?"  
  
He nodded. "Thanks for coming back. I apologize for interrupting your night out, but this can't wait."  
  
"Oh, crap. This can't be good," Brennan said.  
  
"Aren't we going to wait for Emma?" Jesse asked.  
  
"No. This is about Emma." His sharp gaze raked over each of them in turn to see if he could pick up a sign, any sign, that one or more of them shared his suspicions. There was no sign.  
  
"Has something happened to her?" Shalimar clenched her fists at her sides as if ready to do battle right then and there with anyone who dared harm her friend.  
  
"Yes." Adam pulled the three envelopes out of his jacket pocket and held them out. "Emma's gone. She left Sanctuary."  
  
"What?" The others all exclaimed at once. Adam handed them their letters-goodbye letters from Emma. He had gotten one, too. A letter devoid of any mention of their recent history with one another, as if he were just another friend passing out of her life.  
  
"For good?" Shalimar asked.  
  
Adam nodded. "She's gone off with Michael Vincent, son of billionaire Dale Vincent. Could someone please enlighten me as to what the hell has been going on here in my absence?"  
  
Brennan's face cleared. "Wow, that was fast. They've only known each other a few days."  
  
"Correction," Shal interrupted, tearing open her envelope, "they've known each other for a couple of years. They've gotten reacquainted over the past few days. Still, it is kind of surprising."  
  
"Michael Vincent is a friend of Emma's, Adam. They met back during her retail days. She ran into him the other day at the coffee shop, and they've been pretty much inseparable since," Jesse explained. "They did seem pretty cozy the last time I saw them, but I just can't believe she'd take off without saying goodbye."  
  
"Sounds like it's a case of true love." Shal grinned, finishing her letter.  
  
"They went to Michael's family estate in the country," Brennan read from his own letter. "Nice."  
  
"You can say that again. I've seen pictures of the place," Jesse said. "Rolling hills, cultivated gardens, riding stables. The mansion has three wings-including a movie theater and a bowling alley. It's paradise for the rich and famous Vincents."  
  
Adam swallowed the sour taste in his mouth as he listened to them. And all I've given her is the inside of a mountain with no windows.  
  
"So what's the problem, Adam?" Brennan asked. "I mean, we're all going to miss Emma, but she's a big girl. It sounds like she's really in love with the guy. Whatever makes her happy."  
  
Jesse crossed his arms and frowned. "Are you afraid she won't be safe from the GSA out there?" New mutants everywhere were again looking over their shoulders since Mason Eckhart had escaped from his stasis pod and rebuilt his power base at Genomex in an astonishingly quick amount of time.  
  
Shal shook her head. "No, Michael's estate has security up the wazoo- otherwise, Michael wouldn't have been safe from the GSA all these years. Emma told me. They've got force fields surrounding the property, armed security guards, all the latest technology."  
  
"Well, that's one thing that bothers me," Adam said, as he resumed pacing. "All the security in the world wouldn't keep Michael safe if the GSA knew where he was-which they do, because his name is in the database, and his family is high profile."  
  
"So you think Michael's cut some sort of deal with Eckhart to leave him alone?" Jesse asked.  
  
"Him or his father. Dale Vincent wields a lot of political clout. Eckhart would find that connection very useful."  
  
Brennan sat on the arm of the couch. "Don't you think if there was any danger here, Emma would've sense it? I mean, she is a telempath."  
  
Adam spun to face him. "So's Michael."  
  
It took them a moment to follow Adam's train of thought. Shalimar spoke first. "What are you saying, Adam? Do you think Michael would keep this from Emma? That he would. . .manipulate her to keep her in the dark?"  
  
Adam felt as if he would burst from his own restless energy. All he really wanted to do was rush to the Vincent estate and retrieve Emma, not stand around talking about it. But first things first. "I think all Michael has done since he came back into Emma's life is manipulate her. I mean, come on, they were never an item. Emma told me about him once; they were pals, nothing more. She said she thought he had a crush on her, though. And suddenly, he shows up-" while I'm conveniently out of town, he added silently, cursing himself for having to make the trip to Washington in the first place "-and she immediately falls in love with him? Uh-uh." He shook his head. "Michael used his powers to make her believe she was in love with him. He's become a strong telempath as he's gotten older. He's overwhelming her."  
  
"That's quite a reach, Adam," Shal replied.  
  
"How do you know this?" Jesse challenged him. "Do you have evidence?"  
  
Adam bit down on his lower lip to keep from snapping at the young man, who had asked a perfectly reasonable question. "No."  
  
"Then isn't it possible this is just what it appears to be? Two old friends discovering that they're actually in love after all these years? I think it's kind of romantic." Shalimar shrugged.  
  
"No, Shal, it's not possible."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
He didn't want to tell them. He felt vulnerable, exposed, a raw nerve ending. But he had to tell them something. They thought he was overreacting, seeing conspiracies where none existed. He could see it in their faces.  
  
"Because up until the day Michael 'accidentally' bumped into Emma at the coffee shop," he took a steadying breath, "Emma was already involved with-in love with-someone else."  
  
Shal's mouth dropped open, Jesse's face underwent a series of surprised expressions, and Brennan voiced their mutual shock. "What?!"  
  
Adam nodded, finally leaning against the wall, exhausted from even that much of a revelation of something so deeply private. "That's right. And the Emma I know isn't that fickle."  
  
"You know," Shalimar began, lowering herself onto the couch, "Emma has been. . .different. . .for a few weeks now. She seemed content all the time, and had this new. . .confidence. I thought it was because of her new powers." Then she shook her head. "No, if Emma had been seeing someone-in love with someone-she'd have told me. We're best friends." Her last words wavered, though, as if she wondered if perhaps she hadn't known Emma as well as she thought.  
  
"How did you know about this other guy, Adam?" Brennan asked.  
  
There it was. He had no choice. He had to tell them. And they would think he was acting like a spurned lover. They wouldn't take his concerns about Michael seriously. They had never questioned his expertise on new mutant behavior before, but they would now. How could they not? Even to his own ears, he sounded jealous and bitter. For a split-second, he wondered if he was just making up this story about Michael to justify to himself why Emma would leave him. Then he heard her voice in his head, and the words she'd told him the night they first got together: Have faith in me.  
  
He did have faith in her. She was the most extraordinary young woman he'd ever known, wise beyond her years, compassionate, strong, bright, beautiful. . .and in love with him. He hadn't imagined that. Her love for him was real. He'd felt it. Michael had used his powers to make her forget about Adam for awhile, that's all. That would change. Emma's powers were growing stronger by the day. Michael might just find his own powers drained by the constant effort to squelch Emma's real feelings day after day, especially if Adam could get to her, remind her of what they had.  
  
Brennan repeated his question. "Adam? If even Shal didn't know about this guy Emma was involved with, how did you?"  
  
He straightened to his full height and stared back at them. He had nothing to hide any more. "Because that guy was me." 


	2. Chapter 2

Faith  
  
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
November 3, 2002:  
  
It was two a.m., and Adam had the gym in Sanctuary to himself. The others were in bed, asleep. He was often awake at this hour, but normally, he was in the lab doing research. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been in the gym. He had built it for the others. But tonight, he felt like punching something. He took his frustrations out on the punching bag. He'd been there for awhile. The tee-shirt he wore clung to his back, and his hands, though wrapped, were starting to hurt. He didn't care. He wanted them to hurt. He wanted to hurt. He deserved it.  
  
"Stop it." Emma's voice came from behind him, startling him. He whirled around. He hadn't heard her approach. Her feet were bare and she wore a tank and sweats. Her hair looked a little rumpled from sleep. He knew from the concern in her eyes that she had read him.  
  
He resumed punching the bag. "Go back to bed, Emma. I'll try not to project so much."  
  
"No." She walked forward and took his shoulder to turn him to face her again. "You know it wasn't your fault."  
  
Two days after Gabriel Ashlocke had died in an explosion of atoms in the lab at Sanctuary, seven of his followers, who called themselves "Links," had committed group suicide by burning themselves alive in a warehouse downtown. Mutant X had found out earlier that day.  
  
Adam decided he'd done all the damage he could to the punching bag, anyway. He took off his gloves and began unwrapping his hands. Emma stepped forward to help him. For once, he was so distracted that he didn't notice how close she was standing to him or how very beautiful she was.  
  
"Those Links killed themselves," he said, "because Ashlocke built himself up in their minds as some sort of Messiah. I couldn't stop him. I am partially responsible for their deaths."  
  
"No, Adam. You didn't give Ashlocke his powers in the first place. Genomex did. You tried to help him, to give him some humanity. Okay, things turned out badly, but your heart was in the right place. It always is," she added gently.  
  
She gestured to the punching bag. "I'm surprised you didn't have your portrait painted on that thing."  
  
He looked at her in surprise.  
  
"The way you beat yourself up all the time. It'd make it convenient, don't you think?"  
  
He couldn't help it. He had to smile. "Point taken."  
  
She pulled the last of the tape off his right hand and saw how red the knuckles were. She took his bruised hand in both of hers. "You're the most tortured man I know, Adam. That's because you're not objective about yourself. You're so eaten up by guilt over things you had no control over. You need to take my word for it. I wouldn't be here if you were the monster you sometimes think you are. You're the best man I've ever known."  
  
He looked into her eyes, steady on his, and he couldn't look away. He became aware of how close she was standing to him, how few clothes there were between them, the late hour, and the solitude of the gym. He couldn't believe she was saying these things about him, even though he knew how compassionate she was. It made him love her even more. As soon as he thought this, he was embarrassed, knowing she would be appalled if she knew that he had these feelings for her, when he was old enough to be her father, and she was just showing him a kindness. He was about to pull away from her, to put some distance between them before his body language could give him away, when she did the most amazing thing.  
  
She brought his hand up to her lips and kissed his knuckles gently. Heat flooded him. He almost stopped breathing.  
  
"Instead of focusing on all the things you did wrong, and the bad things that have happened because of your research, you should focus on everything you've done well," she continued. "There are diseases that no longer exist because of your work. There are hundreds of New Mutants just like Jesse, Brennan, Shalimar and me who are free and happy and living our lives instead of lying in stasis pods or being experimented on like lab rats- because of you. See yourself the way I see you, Adam." She placed her palm against the side of his face and stroked his cheek with her thumb. "If you can't believe in yourself, believe in me. I couldn't care this much about you if you weren't a good man."  
  
He smiled, feeling as shy and awkward as he had at eighteen. "I should go shower. I'm all sweaty."  
  
"That's okay. It's kind of sexy on you." She moved even closer, so there wasn't even an inch between them any more.  
  
"Emma. . . ." It took all his self-control not to wrap his arms around her and kiss her. What was she doing?  
  
"You don't need to hold back. I feel the same way." She smiled at him.  
  
"Y-Really?"  
  
Instead of answering, she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. And then he was lost in Emma, lost in the moment, heady with the revelation that he was allowed to feel what he felt for her, because she loved him, too. He placed one hand on the small of her back, pulling her closer. He twined his other hand in her hair and kissed her deeply. She moaned and parted her lips, allowing his mouth to take over hers, his tongue to taste hers. Her hands began exploring his body, his shoulders, his back, his chest. He wanted to go further, but the gym wasn't the place. Pulling back, he looked in her eyes, glittering with desire. "I want so much more from you," he said, his throat husky. "Are you ready for that?"  
  
She smiled and nipped at his lower lip with her teeth, gently, not enough to draw blood. "I've been ready for you for a long time. I've been waiting for you to come around."  
  
"Sorry I kept you waiting." He released her from his grip and took her hand in his, kissing it, before drawing her out of the gym and through the halls of Sanctuary back to his room.  
  
Being with Emma for the first time was amazing. He hadn't felt like this in a very long time. They explored each other's bodies freely with hands and lips and tongues until they couldn't stand the tension any longer and made love. And for the first time in many, many years, Adam felt perfect bliss. "Happy" hadn't been a part of his vocabulary since he'd realized the tragedies he'd wrought with his research at Genomex. But Emma reminded him what joy felt like. Joy was having her stretched alongside him, her legs twined with his, her every curve pressed up against him, her hand caressing his chest, her face so close to his her breath was warm on his neck.  
  
He pulled her tighter, kissing her forehead. "You okay?"  
  
She snuggled closer. "Better than okay."  
  
"So, did you read how I felt about you, or was I just that obvious?" he asked her.  
  
She smiled. "You were that obvious. About time, too. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for some kind of hint, some sign that you felt the same way I did. You keep your feelings so closely guarded all the time."  
  
He ran his hand through her hair. "Thank you for being patient with me. I'd forgotten how good a person could feel. It's been a long time since I've let myself love anyone."  
  
"You deserve happiness as much as anyone else, Adam. Maybe more than some."  
  
"I don't deserve you," he said in a whisper.  
  
"Well, if you want to spend the rest of your life proving your worth to me, I could live with that," Emma teased him.  
  
He laughed out loud, a genuine, surprised laugh, and that was rare for him, too. He could get used to feeling like this. He rolled over, pinning her under him, and sighed, brushing her hair back away from her face. "You skin is so smooth."  
  
She placed her hand over his, pressing his palm to her face and kissing it. "Say it, Adam."  
  
"I love you, Em. You're in my heart and soul. I'm yours for as long as you're willing to put up with me."  
  
"Forever, then. I love you, Adam. That's not going to change."  
  
He wanted to believe that. But she was so young, and he. . .wasn't. "If it does, sweetheart, I won't stand in your way. I just want you to know."  
  
Her face clouded over, and he felt his heart constrict. He'd hurt her. Damn it.  
  
"Don't ruin what we have, what we just shared, by assuming that I'll lose interest in you someday. Please," she pleaded with him. "I don't give my heart easily. I've given it to you. It's yours to keep forever. She took his hand and placed it over her heart. "Have faith in me, Adam. I'm not going anywhere."  
  
He believed her. "You really are the most. . . " He couldn't find words for how miraculous she was, so he showed her by making love to her again.  
  
The following morning came, and he woke to find Emma pulling on her clothes. "What're we going to tell the others?" he asked her. He didn't want to be the one to say what he thought their reaction would be.  
  
She leaned over to kiss him good morning. "Do we have to tell them yet? I don't think they'll understand. And I don't want anything to ruin how happy I am right now."  
  
So they agreed to wait for a while, to get used to their new love, to savor every moment they had together before they braved the storm that would inevitably come when they told the others. It wasn't easy, keeping their feelings under wraps. Sometimes, Adam thought the others must be deaf, dumb and blind not to notice how closely they stood together when they were in the same room, or the way their eyes kept straying to each other's faces, the way Emma kept refusing their invitations to join them out on the town in order to stay at Sanctuary with Adam. It was a glorious month. Adam thought he'd started a new chapter in his life, one where he was allowed to be happy, with Emma.  
  
Then he got the call from Washington to consult with the Joint Chiefs about a particular biological weapon that had been obtained by a middle eastern country, a weapon developed by a former colleague at Genomex nearly two decades before. He was able to provide government scientists with the antidote to the biological weapon and counsel them on how to neutralize the threat posed by his former colleague. After three days, he was in first class on a 747 headed home with a smile on his face. Sanctuary had always been that-a "sanctuary". But now, because of Emma, it took on the true meaning of "home". Adam was going home.  
  
He hurried through the underground complex, from room to room, calling out to Emma and the others, wondering where they all were. He finally wound up in the kitchen. There was a note from Jesse on the refrigerator, saying he was out on a date and wouldn't be back until late. Nothing from Brennan or Shalimar. But perched against the salt and pepper shakers in the counter were four envelopes in Emma's handwriting, the top addressed simply "Adam." Adam's world came crashing down. 


	3. Chapter 3

Faith  
  
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
November 30, 2002  
  
Jesse, Brennan, and Shalimar sat in stunned silence in the lounge after Adam walked out. Finally, Brennan spoke.  
  
"I can't believe it. Adam and Emma!? How did that happen? And when? And why didn't they tell us?"  
  
"Looks like they didn't trust us," Shalimar said bitterly. "Nice vote of confidence in the team, huh?"  
  
"You guys are assuming we can believe what Adam just told us," Jesse interrupted. "How do we know any of that was real?"  
  
"You think he'd lie to us?" Shal looked at him in surprise.  
  
"I don't know, but none of this makes sense to me. If Emma and Adam were having some kind of affair, why would Emma suddenly run off with Michael? And no offense, but Emma-and Adam??" He held out his hands. "I always thought she saw him as a father figure. I mean, don't we all?"  
  
Brennan sighed. "I'd be lying if I said that didn't freak me out, too. I mean, she's young enough to be his daughter. I know he's a millionaire, but what is he, Hugh Hefner all of a sudden?"  
  
"Hey, wait a minute!" Shalimar got to her feet and stared down at him. "That's not fair, Brennan. How can you think that about Adam, after everything he's done for us?"  
  
"Shal, I think Brennan's just pointing out, a guy like Adam, with his money and influence, and a girl like Emma, who's vulnerable--"  
  
"Vulnerable? Emma?"  
  
"We're all a little vulnerable because of our mutant powers, Shal. Emma especially. Most of the time, she's in control of her powers, but sometimes, they're in control of her. And since her powers are all about emotions, yeah, she can be vulnerable. And because Adam knows more about mutants than anyone else--including us--he's got power over her." He scowled. "I never thought he'd abuse it."  
  
"You, too?" Shal looked at Jesse with a pained expression. "Come on. If he was the kind of guy who would take advantage of his power over a young woman, then I'd know, wouldn't I? I was here long before any of you were. He was never anything but good to me. He didn't expect anything in return. That's not who Adam is."  
  
Brennan got to his feet, too. "Well, how else do you explain this?" he asked. "I mean, they're involved in a secret relationship they don't tell any of us about? Why wouldn't they, if they had nothing to hide?"  
  
"People usually keep relationships a secret when they know there's something wrong with it, or they know it's not going to last." Jesse's lips twisted cynically. "I had this friend, Laurie, years ago, who fell in love with her teacher. He persuaded her he loved her deeply, but they had to keep their relationship secret because of his reputation. Convinced her he was going to leave his wife. Six months later, he dumped Laurie, and she tried to kill herself."  
  
Shalimar looked at him like he was an alien. "How can you even compare the situations? You don't know what's going on here, none of us do. Did it ever occur to either of you that maybe Emma's the one who did the seducing here? Aside from the fact that she is young and beautiful, she's also a telempath. If she couldn't seduce Adam with her body, she could have with her mind. She could get him to do anything."  
  
"Look, I know Adam's a genius, and, I suppose, from a woman's point of view, he's not bad looking, but don't you think Emma would want someone a little closer to her own age?" Brennan argued.  
  
Shal's eyes flashed. "Maybe she's got a daddy complex. Maybe she did it for kicks. Maybe she's interested in his money. Who the hell knows? My theory makes as much sense as yours does!"  
  
"If she was interested in his money, why would she have turned around and run off with Michael?" Jesse interrupted. He finally got to his feet and crossed his arms in front of him, as if he had just checkmated Shalimar at chess.  
  
"Because the Vincents are even richer than Adam," Shalimar replied.  
  
Jesse shook his head. "I had no idea you hated Emma so much."  
  
Shalimar looked as though he'd slapped her. "I don't hate Emma! I'm just saying, there are two sides to every story, and before the two of you decide to lynch Adam for seducing poor innocent Emma, maybe you might want to consider Emma's role in all this."  
  
"Nobody wants to lynch Adam-" Brennan began.  
  
"Really? Because that's what it sounds like to me."  
  
"Look, Shal, we're just saying it's normally the older man who has the power in these relationships-"  
  
"Since when has anything been normal for any of us?" she retorted. "We're mutants!"  
  
"It is pointless to argue with you, you're going to take Adam's side." Brennan waved his hand as if to shut down the conversation.  
  
They all stopped arguing, their emotions spent. Shalimar ran a hand through her hair, thinking.  
  
"Listen to us. Listen to what's coming out of our mouths about people we care about." She looked at Brennan, then Jesse. "No wonder they didn't tell us. If Emma were here, our emotions would knock her flat on her back."  
  
Both young men looked chagrined. "You've got a point," Jesse admitted. "I guess.. instead of speculating about who did what to whom, maybe we should find out the whole story."  
  
Shalimar laid her hand on his arm. "Let me. Adam might be more comfortable confiding in me."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Adam was in the lab, staring at the GPS images of the Vincent's property on the large screen on the wall in front of him. It was a vast property, with groves of trees, the enormous mansion Jesse had referred to, and several outbuildings, including a guesthouse. Emma was there, somewhere, right now.  
  
"Adam?"  
  
He whirled around to see the blonde feral standing in the doorway. "Shalimar." His tone was cool.  
  
Shalimar came in and sat in a nearby chair. She looked tentative. "We're all confused. That was quite a bombshell you dropped on us, you know."  
  
Adam's shoulders relaxed. "I know."  
  
"How did this happen, I mean. . . you and Emma?"  
  
Adam drew another chair over next to hers and sat, leaning forward. "It was after Ashlocke's followers committed suicide. I was upset, and Emma came to me, to comfort me." He smiled, remembering her calm, her tenderness. "We were talking, and. . .I let my guard down. She read me. I had been feeling some things for her for a long time, but I didn't think it was appropriate, so I shoved those feelings down as far as I could in my subconscious, you know? I didn't want to burden her with whatever hormonal urges I had toward her. She's had enough of that in her life."  
  
He looked at Shalimar pointedly, as if he could read her mind. "I'm well aware of the age difference. But I'm still a man. And she's a beautiful, bright young woman who's sweet and compassionate. . .and she touched me. I would never have acted on my feelings, but I slipped that night, and she read them." His voice grew heavy with emotion. "To my complete surprise, she wasn't angry with me, and she wasn't embarrassed. Things I thought she would be if she ever found out."  
  
"What did she say?" Shal asked, interested in hearing the rest.  
  
"She told me she felt the same way about me. Then she kissed me. And I knew it was all right. Everything was going to be all right from then on. I love her, Shalimar. More than life itself." His voice broke.  
  
Shal's eyes began to tear up. She believed him. "So you guys have been having these feelings for each other for the past month, and we never had a clue."  
  
"Emma and I knew it would be hard for you all. We've been such a family unit here. She and I were shaking up the status quo in a way we thought might be difficult for you to understand. We were going to tell you. We just wanted some time to enjoy what we'd found with each other before we had to face all sorts of questions-"  
  
"And emotions," Shal added quietly. "You should've been out there a few minutes ago. Brennan and Jesse and I almost came to blows." She smiled sheepishly. "That would've been hard on poor Emma."  
  
"So we snatched whatever moments we could. Remember that night we said we needed to go to the library to dig through those old dusty historical archives? That took us about an hour and a half, and then we had a nice dinner out and went to a movie. Just like a normal couple."  
  
"You sneaks! You had us actually feeling sorry for you both, spending the whole evening in that dreary library basement." Shalimar grinned. Then she remembered something. "All those times the guys and I went out clubbing and Emma kept making excuses to stay here--"  
  
Adam grinned back. "We would cook dinner and put on some music and dance or just curl up on the couch and watch a movie." His smile slowly faded. "She loves me, Shalimar. I haven't lived as long as I have and made as many mistakes as I have not to have learned how to read people pretty well. She was not faking it. What we had was real. And whatever Michael is doing to her right now, he's doing it against her will. I can't bear the thought. If we don't get her back soon, I think I'm going to go mad." His dark eyes pleaded with her silently.  
  
"I'm in," Shalimar told him. "Let me go talk to the guys. You come up with a plan. We'll get her back, Adam. I promise." She squeezed his hand.  
  
* * * * *  
  
As Shal left to talk to Adam, Brennan said to Jesse, "Come on, let's go shoot some hoops."  
  
"I'm not dressed for it."  
  
"I've got to do something. I've got all this energy."  
  
Jesse shrugged and followed Brennan down the hallway, shedding his coat and shirt on the way. Brennan grabbed the ball and they took their usual starting positions for a game of one-on-one. "No using your powers," Jesse warned his friend.  
  
Brennan grinned and began dribbling the ball. "I don't have to use my powers. So how was your date with the lovely Kimberly?" He shouldered past Jesse and threw the ball from seven feet away. The ball bounced around the rim and finally went through.  
  
Jesse retrieved the basketball. "It was going great until Adam called me back. She probably thinks I had it planned all along. She'll never go out with me again." It was his turn to try to get past Brennan. He faked a left and instead, went right, ran up under the basket and dunked it-a bit more aggressively than was his usual style.  
  
Brennan's eyebrows went up as he noticed Jesse's anger. He caught the ball before the third bounce. "Just send her some flowers and explain. She'll give you another chance."  
  
Jesse shrugged off the suggestion. He didn't make a move to resume the game. "Do you think we were being too hard on Adam?"  
  
Brennan tucked the ball under his right arm. After a moment's pause, he said: "Yeah, I guess."  
  
"I think because of what happened with my friend Laurie, I have this thing about. . . I don't trust men who take up with younger women. I never thought Adam would be like that. It really threw me for a loop. But Shal's right, I can't judge Adam based on what little we know. He's never done anything to make me think he'd use a woman like that. I can't believe that I immediately assumed the worst of him."  
  
"What about me? I accused him of being a Hugh Hefner wannabe. But the guy practically lives like a monk, shut up in his lab all the time."  
  
"How many times has he saved our lives in the last couple of years?"  
  
"I stopped counting." Giving up all pretense that the game was going to continue, Brennan tossed the basketball away from him, into the corner of the room. "I think," he began, "it's the fact that it was Emma. I mean, if Adam came and introduced us to his new 23 year old girlfriend, and it was somebody we didn't know, we might raise an eyebrow or two, and then we'd think 'Lucky dog', right? We wouldn't have gotten this upset, would we?"  
  
Jesse ducked his head, his hands on his hips. "Probably not."  
  
"Exactly. But Emma, you know, she's family. She's like a little sister, or the girl next door. She makes you feel like you have to protect her."  
  
"But she hates when we're protective of her," Jesse added, smiling as he remembered one time when she got mad at him and Brennan for acting like she was a fragile doll and knocked them on their butts with a psionic blast.  
  
"Right, but it doesn't change how we feel, does it? I can't stand the idea of someone taking advantage of her."  
  
"Me neither. So the question remains: Who's been taking advantage of her, Adam or Michael, or both?"  
  
They were quiet for several moments, each lost in his thoughts, struggling with what he knew about Emma and Adam. Slowly, they looked at each other again, each having come to his own conclusion. "We owe Adam an apology," Jesse said.  
  
"Big time." Brennan clapped Jesse on the shoulder, and the two headed back toward the lab. 


	4. Chapter 4

Faith  
  
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.  
  
Chapter 4:  
  
December 1, 2002  
  
It was eight-thirty a.m. Jesse, Brennan, and Adam were in the lab, where they had been all night. They were on their third pot of coffee. Jesse was on the computer, busily hacking into the Vincents' security system. He had earlier pulled up blue prints for the Vincent homestead to go with the GPS images Adam had accessed earlier. The team had studied both and discussed where the potential entry points were. They knew every nook and cranny of the property, and now all that remained was determining the best way past security and coming up with a strategy to separate Emma from Michael long enough for Adam to try to get through to her. Michael was a strong telempath, but so was Emma; if he could confront Emma with the memories of what they had, if he could help her remember long enough for her to break Michael's hold on her, she could regain control. Love conquers all, isn't that what the poets say? Adam thought. Shalimar was busy setting the next step of the plan in motion.  
  
She returned to the lab a few minutes later. Adam met her in the middle of the room. "Well? What'd she say?"  
  
"I have good news and I have bad news," Shal said. "The bad news is, you were right. She won't leave the Vincent property. Michael was there with her when we were talking, I could hear him in the background. But I told her I really needed to talk to her, that I was going through a rough time, and it couldn't wait. She finally agreed to have lunch with me at the estate."  
  
Adam nodded knowingly. "That was to be expected. If he let her leave the estate to meet you for lunch, he wouldn't have control over her. Anything unpredictable could happen. That's all right, Shal. You did great. At least you got an invitation onto the property."  
  
"What about the rest of us?" Brennan asked.  
  
"Well, you and Jesse are going to have to sneak in." He pulled his cell phone out of his pants pocket. "I am going to wrangle myself an invitation."  
  
"How are you going to manage that?"  
  
"Watch and listen." Adam smiled. He held the phone to his ear until someone picked up on the other end. "Dale," he began, "It's Adam Kane. Yes, I know hell hasn't frozen over yet."  
  
Jesse, Shalimar, and Brennan exchanged looks. Obviously, Adam and Dale weren't old friends.  
  
"Listen, Dale, let's set that aside for the time being. Remember Project M-5? I know what I said, but I've changed my mind. I'm willing to entertain an offer, if it's the right offer. No, it's got to be today. But the only time I have free is noon." He paused. "Well, Dale, if you're not interested, I can always talk to Sydney about it." A smile spread slowly across his face. "Yes, I know where your estate is. I'll be there at noon. See you then." He flipped the phone shut and grinned at the members of his team. "I'm in."  
  
Brennan looked at Jesse. "So I guess that just leaves us. Let's find a hole in that security system."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Shalimar pulled her car up in front of the guard post at the front gate of the Vincent estate. She had her sunglasses on so the guard wouldn't see her red and swollen eyes. "Shalimar Fox, I'm a guest of Emma DeLauro."  
  
The guard clearly took his job seriously. He didn't look her over the way men usually did. He checked a paper attached to a clipboard and nodded brusquely. "You're cleared. Go ahead in." He pushed a button, and the enormous gilded gates in front of her swung open. Shal felt like she was driving up to Buckingham Palace.  
  
She was glad the poplar-lined drive was a long one, because she had to work herself into the proper emotional state before she got to the house.  
  
"Remember," Adam had warned her before she left, "you're about to walk into the lion's den. You're facing two empaths. Now, you know Emma won't read you, but Michael will. If you let your suspicions and mistrust about him creep into your emotions, he'll know it, and it'll put him on his guard. The only way for this to work is for you to go in there believing your own cover story. You're going to have to think of something so powerful, so tragic, that it overwhelms any other emotions you have. But at the same time, you've got to keep your wits about you to stick to the plan. You think you can handle that?"  
  
"I've got to, don't I? For Emma's sake." So during the forty-minute drive to the Vincent estate, Shalimar had to use her imagination to come up with something suitably devastating. She forced herself to relive Richard's death. That did the trick.  
  
By the time she pulled up in front of the house and parked in the spot allotted to guests, she had tears streaming down her face again.  
  
Emma and Michael met her at the door. Emma looked unharmed and gave a little wave when she saw Shalimar. Michael's complete attention was on Emma. He only released his grasp on Emma's waist when Emma moved forward to hug Shalimar.  
  
"Oh, honey, what's wrong? You weren't kidding when you said you were a mess."  
  
Shalimar removed her sunglasses for the effect and sniffed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I got all emotional on the way over here again."  
  
Emma put her arm around Shalimar's shoulders and steered her toward the door. "Come in and tell me what's going on."  
  
"Shalimar." Michael smiled and nodded at her.  
  
Shalimar forced down her revulsion and conjured up an image of Richard's face as he lay dying instead. "Hi, Michael. I'm sorry to be such a downer for you guys."  
  
"Hey, no, don't worry about it. You're Emma's friend, and that's all that matters."  
  
Shalimar felt his eyes on her, though, as Emma led her through the vast, white and gold foyer and down a series of hallways to a sitting room with double doors. He was definitely trying to read her, she could tell. She distracted herself. "Wow, look at this place. It puts the Taj Mahal to shame. Oh my God, is that a Rembrandt?"  
  
"Yeah, there are enough rooms in this place to make you go 'wow' every five minutes for a week," Emma replied, glancing at Michael. He followed them into the sitting room. Emma gestured to the sofa. "Here, have a seat."  
  
"Would you like something to drink?" Michael asked. He walked over to a table with dozens of glass bottles on it, each filled with some kind of liquid.  
  
"Some water would be good, thanks," Shal replied.  
  
"I haven't seen you like this since Richard," Emma said, as Michael handed Shal her water.  
  
"Yeah, well, that's. . . ." Shal looked up at Michael. "Um, I have to say, I don't feel very comfortable talking about this in front of. . .uh. . . ."  
  
Emma took the hint. "Oh. Of course." She turned to Michael. "Sweetheart, would you mind? Girl talk?"  
  
Michael didn't look happy, but he quickly pasted on a look of understanding. "Certainly. I don't mean to pry. You two take your time. I'll be-" he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward the doors "around, if you need me."  
  
Shalimar waited until he walked out of the room and closed the doors behind him. To all intents and purposes, he had gone away to another part of the house. But he hadn't. Shal reached out with her feral senses, and she felt him, still out in the foyer, just outside the door. It made her nervous. How long could she keep this up, if he was constantly reading her? Thank God Emma made it a policy not to read her friends; she considered it an invasion of privacy. Shalimar just needed to try to forget that Michael was outside the door. "Thanks for agreeing to see me, Emma."  
  
"What's happened? Is everyone okay? Nothing's happened to Adam, has it?"  
  
Shal looked up sharply. "No, why would you ask?"  
  
Instead of replying, Emma stared at her blankly for a moment. It was like looking at a mannequin with her friend's face on it. Creepy. Then, Emma was back and said, "I just thought since you were so upset, maybe something had happened to him. You two are close."  
  
Somehow, Shalimar had the feeling that wasn't the reason Adam's name was the first to come to Emma's mind, but she couldn't dwell on it. Shal launched back into her cover story. "No, no, this has nothing to do with Adam or the others. It's. . .I know it sounds maudlin, but I've been thinking about Richard all the time, lately, and reliving the grief I felt when he died. I can't seem to stop. I thought maybe you could help me. . . ."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Adam pulled into the spot next to Shalimar's car at the Vincent estate. He felt the hood as he got out of his car, before reaching in for his briefcase. The hood was quite warm, which meant he wasn't long behind her. Good. "Jesse, Brennan, where are you guys?"  
  
"We're on the perimeter," Brennan answered. "Give us about ten minutes."  
  
"Okay, I'm about to go into the house. I'll leave the comm. link open, just in case."  
  
"Roger that."  
  
The butler answered the door and escorted Adam across the marble floor of the foyer toward a long hallway. "Mr. Vincent is waiting for you in his office," the butler had said.  
  
Dale Vincent's office was larger than some people's homes. He had several TV monitors on one wall, tuned to various news channels, and a stock ticker. Dale was on the phone when the butler announced Adam, but quickly hung up on whoever it was, with a peremptory "Just get it done sometime today."  
  
Dale's hair had more silver in it than the last time Adam had seen him, but he still had the same athletic tan and steely eyes. "Adam," he said, coming forward to shake hands with him. "I was surprised to hear from you."  
  
"Well, I like to be unpredictable." Adam gave him a measured smile.  
  
"You are that. So what do you want for the M5 technology?"  
  
Damn. Leave it to Vincent to get right down to business. Adam needed to stall him long enough for Jesse and Brennan to penetrate the security to get to the mansion. "Wouldn't you like to see some documentation on the technology's success rate so far? You need to know, it's not a hundred percent."  
  
"Nothing's a hundred percent. But knowing you, it's probably ninety-nine point nine percent. Sure, show me what you've got."  
  
Adam opened his briefcase and pulled out a thick folder. "It's all here, take your time."  
  
"This much? You've been doing extensive tests." Dale reached into his inside coat pocket for his reading glasses.  
  
"You know me, I like to be thorough." Adam pulled what looked like a palm pilot out of his own coat pocket. "Do you mind if I check my messages while you're reading through that?"  
  
"No, not at all." Dale took a seat at the chair behind his desk, and turned his attention to the materials in front of him. Even though it was a thick folder, Adam knew it wouldn't take him long to skim it for the information he wanted. Adam turned on the palm pilot and pulled up the blue print of the Vincent mansion, which Jesse had spliced with their own tracking system. Shalimar was wearing a tracking beacon that would allow him, Brennan, and Jesse to pinpoint her and Emma's location in the mansion when they needed to. Right now, the two young women were in a sitting room approximately three hundred feet away. He glanced at his watch. Brennan had no doubt disabled the forcefield on the perimeter by now, and the two young men were making their way through the wooded area behind the stables to the house. He hoped they didn't run into any surprises. It was not supposed to be a heavily guarded area.  
  
When Dale finished skimming the documents. "All right, let's cut to the chase, Adam. How much do you want? Or is it something other than money you're looking to trade this for?"  
  
Adam scrutinized the businessman's shrewd face. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Am I really supposed to think this is a coincidence?" Dale replied, one corner of his mouth twisting upward. "My son brings home one of your mutants and you call me up out of the blue to offer me a piece of technology I've been trying to get you to sell me for the past two years? I think not. Are you hoping for a trade? The M5 technology for Miss DeLauro?"  
  
Adam's heart began beating faster, but he maintained his zen-like expression. "If I were, would you go along with it?"  
  
Dale looked away, toward a picture of his late first wife, Michael's mother, that still sat on the edge of his desk. There was a photo of Dale and Michael on the bookshelf behind him. They wore tennis garb and looked like they had just won a tournament. Michael took after his mother, not his father. He was a short, lean young man with a pencil thin mustache and straight, light brown hair. He looked as though he was being crushed uncomfortably under the weight of his father's arm around his narrow shoulders. Adam felt sorry for him for a brief second. A very brief second. There were no other photos in the office, as if Dale's second and third wives-both of whom had divorced him-had never existed.  
  
"No," Dale finally said, decisively. "I wouldn't. My son's happiness is more important to me than any business deal. However, I do admire your willingness to entertain such a trade. I always told you we were more alike than you ever wanted to admit."  
  
"Emma makes Michael happy?" Adam asked softly, barely parting his teeth to get the words out.  
  
"Absolutely. I've never seen him like this before. Love does create a remarkable transformation in a person."  
  
"Yes, it does. But does Michael make Emma happy?" Do you even care? He added silently.  
  
"Seems to. You're welcome to ask her yourself on your way out. She's around the house somewhere. I think she was having a friend over for lunch." Dale leaned forward. "Now, about a real price for the technology- "  
  
Adam glanced at his watch. It was almost time. He grabbed the folder off the desk and put it back in his briefcase, snapping the case shut. "You can't pay my price."  
  
A flash of anger crossed Dale's face. "Come on, Adam. You can't sit on this forever. Think of all the applications-the world needs this technology. I can bring it to the marketplace."  
  
"Oh, you're right about the potential applications. But it's not ready for the marketplace. Not until I can safeguard it, make sure it can't be used by the military or warped beyond its intent. I've been burned too many times, Dale."  
  
"Then why are you here? Is this some sort of carrot you're dangling in front of me? Or did you really think you could trade it for your mutant?"  
  
Adam lost his temper. "You know, the way you keep calling her a mutant makes me wonder what you call your own son. He's a new mutant, too."  
  
"Thanks to you!" Dale's lip curled back.  
  
"You're the one who brought your pregnant wife to Genomex. You're the one who wanted a child with superior DNA." Adam stared back at him.  
  
Dale stood abruptly. "If our business is concluded here, you can see yourself out."  
  
"My pleasure."  
  
Adam left Dale's office and headed down the hall. He pulled out the palm pilot. Emma and Shalimar were still in the sitting room. Once out in the foyer, he took a left and headed down another hallway that led to that room. "Brennan, Jesse, where are you? I'm on my way to Emma and Shal's position right now."  
  
"So are we," Jesse replied, breathless, "but we've got company on our tail. We're going to have to do this fast, Adam."  
  
He saw Michael before Michael saw him. But the young man felt him just before Adam reached the door to the sitting room. He whirled. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I think you know." Adam brushed past Michael and into the sitting room, where Shalimar was in tears on the couch, and Emma was comforting her. The sight of Emma flooded him with relief. Shal looked up, realizing she didn't have to play-act any more, and wiped the tears from her face.  
  
"Emma." Adam came to a stop in front of her.  
  
Emma stood up and stared at him, confused. "Adam? What are you doing here?"  
  
Michael followed on Adam's heels. He was physically no match for the older man, and he knew it. "Emma, darling. Are you all right?"  
  
Her face smoothed of expression for a split-second. Then she smiled at Michael. "I'm fine, sweetheart. Look, Adam came for a visit, too."  
  
"Yes, but Adam wasn't invited," Michael replied coolly.  
  
"Oh, but I was. I had some business with your father." Adam never looked away from Emma's face. She seemed pleased to see him, a tiny smile lifting the corners of her mouth up.  
  
"Well, it seems your business is concluded-"  
  
"I haven't even gotten started yet," Adam interrupted. He reached out and took Emma's arms gently in his hands. "Emma, honey, you need to listen to me. None of this is real. Michael has taken over your memories and manipulated you into believing you're in love with him. But you're not."  
  
Emma laughed nervously. "What? What are you talking about?"  
  
"How dare you?!" Michael tried to pull Adam away from Emma, but before he knew what was happening, Shalimar had sprung up off the couch and knocked him aside. She stood between him and her friends, her eyes glowing yellow. "Back off, Michael."  
  
"Shal, don't hurt him!" Emma took a step toward Shalimar.  
  
Adam tightened his grip on her arms and turned her around to face him. "Forget about him, Emma. I need you to concentrate. You trust me, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, of course I do. I trust you more than-" Emma's face blanked for a moment, then it rapidly changed expression, leaving her with a deep frown and the appearance of undergoing an internal struggle.  
  
She raised her hand to her temple and rubbed it like she had a headache.  
  
"That's it, Emma, fight him. You're stronger than he is."  
  
She pulled back and looked at him coolly. "I'm sorry if you feel betrayed that I left Mutant X, Adam, but I had to do what made me happy. Michael makes me happy."  
  
Adam felt as though she had slapped him. But he quickly pushed that feeling aside. Those weren't Emma's words, they were Michael's. Adam smiled at her and cupped her face in his hands. "I'm not talking about Mutant X, honey. I'm talking about you and me." He allowed himself to feel his love for Emma. He didn't hold back any of it this time. He gazed into her face, looking for a sign. "We were in love. Not you and Michael, you and me. Remember? Remember this?" He pulled his hand away long enough to reach into his jacket pocket and pull out a micro-cassette player. He pushed the button and music played-a female voice crooning, "It's very clear, our love is here to stay, not for a year, forever and a day.."  
  
A flicker of something lit her eyes--recognition, perhaps?  
  
Adam moved closer to her, drawing her into his arms. She didn't resist. "Do you smell my cologne?" he whispered in her ear. "You said you liked this one." Smell and sound are the most powerful memory triggers. Adam was counting on that. "You told me that night we danced to this song in Sanctuary. Do you remember?"  
  
"I-I-" Emma's face was a portrait of confusion, like someone who knew two things to be true, but completely opposite, and is trying to reconcile them.  
  
"It's getting harder, isn't it?" Shal said to Michael. "Look at him, Adam, he's sweating."  
  
"You're scaring him," Emma protested. But the words came out feebly. Still she made no move to pull out of Adam's arms. His heart soared with hope.  
  
"No, I don't think that's it." Shal peered closer into his face. "Check out those dark circles. You haven't been getting much sleep lately, have you, Michael?"  
  
"No, I haven't. But that's really none of your business." He tried to pull away from Shal, to maneuver closer to Emma, but the feral's reflexes were quicker than his. She kept him cornered.  
  
"Mm. Got a lot on your mind, I imagine, what with erasing Emma's memory and trying to make her think she's in love with you every minute of every day. Having to stay on guard to make sure no one says or does anything to remind her how she really feels. It must be exhausting. Did you really think you could keep this up for the rest of your life? Or were you hoping to just keep your hold over her long enough to get what you wanted from her and then hope your daddy could bail you out of the mess you created?"  
  
Meanwhile, Adam kept talking to Emma. "Do you remember the night we snuck out for dinner, and we had that table overlooking the lake? Your eyes sparkled in the candlelight."  
  
"Brighter than the stars," Emma murmured.  
  
"That's right. I said they were the brighter than the stars that night. And that you were more beautiful than the moon."  
  
"What's going on here?" Dale Vincent stood in the doorway, scowling. "Unhand my son!" He took a step toward Shalimar, but stopped short when she growled at him.  
  
Just then, Jesse and Brennan phased through the outer wall to the sitting room, Jesse's hand on Brennan's shoulder. They stumbled into the room, out of breath. "Adam! The guards spotted us! They're on their way," Jesse said between gasps. Shalimar pulled Dale Vincent into the room and slammed the double doors closed behind him, locking them.  
  
"I should've known you were responsible for the security breach, Adam!" Dale glowered at him.  
  
Brennan ran to Shalimar's side and built up a ball of electricity between his hands, ready to zap the first security officer who stormed the room. While Shalimar was distracted, Michael rushed to Adam and Emma. He pulled hard on Adam's arm. "Emma!" he shouted. "You love ME, tell him!"  
  
Adam had enough of Michael. He whirled and punched the young man in the face, knocking him backward. Jesse managed to catch him before he hit the floor.  
  
"Michael!" Emma called out. "Adam?" She stared at him, shocked. "How could you do that? Why-what are you-"  
  
There was only one more weapon in Adam's arsenal. He decided to use it while Michael was preoccupied. He pulled Emma into his arms and kissed her, deeply, releasing all the pent-up passion he'd been holding in for the past few days.  
  
She started to push away in surprise, and then, she relaxed and began kissing him back. She slowly twined her arms around him, pulling him tighter against her. Emma let out a little moan of pleasure.  
  
The others simply stared at them.  
  
Then Michael came to and struggled in Jesse's grasp. A trickle of blood ran from his nose. "You son of a-I think you broke my nose!"  
  
"You're lucky if that's all he broke," Jesse said.  
  
"Of all the-Adam, you are going down for this," Dale Vincent blustered.  
  
Slowly, Adam eased his hold on Emma and pulled his face back away from hers. He didn't have to ask this time. He knew she remembered. He smiled at her.  
  
Emma stared up at him breathlessly. "Adam? You came for me?"  
  
"Of course I did. I love you."  
  
Someone began pounding on the door. Then, there was the jingle of keys, and the handles jiggled. Brennan sent a pulse of electricity at the door handles, and they heard a shout and a thump on the other side of the door.  
  
A security guard with a gun appeared outside a window, gun drawn. Shalimar grabbed Dale Vincent around the throat and called out to the guard "I wouldn't do that if I were you! You might just miss and hit your boss!"  
  
"Or his son!" Jesse added, hauling Michael to his feet. Michael had gone pale.  
  
Adam was dimly aware of all of this going on around him, but his eyes never left Emma's face. He waited for her reaction. 


	5. Chapter 5

Faith  
  
Rating: PG-13 Summary: When Emma disappears from Sanctuary, Adam vows to get her back. Pairing: Adam/Emma Author's Note: This story breaks continuity with the show after The Future is Revealed.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X or any of its characters. I'm just borrowing them to have some fun with for a little while.  
  
Chapter 5:  
  
Emma stared up into Adam's face, into those warm eyes of his, staring at her with such love and concern, and she remembered everything. It was overwhelming. She felt like a newborn baby, thrust into a new and strange world. Her emotions were such a maelstrom they blocked out everyone else's. The first thing she felt was a powerful love. The kind of love that made you feel as though you could fly. "Adam?" She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him to her, clinging to him like a life preserver. "Adam, I do remember us! I do!"  
  
Adam hugged her tightly, and she felt the tension go out of his muscles.  
  
She basked in his love. She'd always felt safe in his arms, and she felt safe now. Flashes of memory came to her as clear as if they were happening all over again. Emma bringing Adam a cup of coffee in the lab, massaging his shoulders to work out a tension knot. Adam pulling her to him for a kiss. The two of them dancing in the candlelight at Sanctuary, to a Natalie Cole CD. She kept making him play one song over and over again: "Our Love Is Here to Stay." Adam holding her hand as they walked out of the movie theater the night they told the others they were sifting through old library archives. The way Adam put his coat around her shoulders when they stepped out into the cold night, and he realized her sweater wasn't warm enough. The two of them making love in his bed, in her bed, in the shower. She vividly remembered the salty taste of his skin and the smell of his aftershave, the way his curls felt when they were damp after a shower, the tiny chest hairs she loved to play with while they lay entwined together in the wee hours of the morning. This is the man I love, she thought. "I love you so much," she said aloud.  
  
"I love you, too, Em." He squeezed her a little tighter.  
  
Then the memories of the past three days flooded through her memory. Every conversation, every action, everything that had happened from the moment she'd bumped into Michael at the coffeehouse to now. It was like a nightmare. Tears formed in her eyes, and she pulled away from Adam. "Oh my God!" She looked over toward Michael, then back at Adam. "What have I done?"  
  
Adam stroked her face. "It wasn't you, sweetheart. It was nothing you could control."  
  
"But I-" She covered her mouth with her hand and fought the urge to throw up. She began shaking uncontrollably. Then she turned on Michael. Michael, whom she had been kind to years ago, Michael, who had said he was her friend. . . ."You. How could you?" Rage bubbled up in her.  
  
Michael wore a look of panic. "Emma, I only wanted a chance to show you how much I could love you, that I could make you happy-"  
  
"You raped me!" she screamed. "You knew I loved Adam! I told you I was in love! And instead of being happy for me, you suppressed my memories of Adam, you made me think I was in love with you, and then you brought me here and-" She couldn't finish. The words were as unspeakable as the deed.  
  
"I never meant to hurt you, Emma. Please," Michael pleaded. "You've got to believe me. You had so little when I knew you, and I thought you'd be happy with this life, if you could only learn to love me. I mean, how much could you have loved him if I could so easily make you forget him?"  
  
"Shut up! Just shut up! You never could have made me forget about Adam if you hadn't sucker punched me. My guard was down because I thought you were a friend! I thought I could trust you!"  
  
Dale Vincent, whose normally tan skin had taken on an ashen pallor, spoke. "Michael-is this true? Did you use your powers on her?"  
  
Michael seemed to shrink inside his own skin. He nodded. His shoulders sagged. Emma felt a sense of relief emanate from him, like he was glad the charade was over.  
  
"What should we do with him?" Brennan asked. His lips were curled back in a snarl. It was obvious what he wanted to do with Michael: Send a few thousand volts of electricity through him.  
  
"What do you mean, do with him?" Dale regained some of his composure. "You should be worried about what's going to happen to all of you, taking my son and me hostage. What are you going to do, go to the police and say he used his telempathic powers to subdue the young woman? You certainly couldn't say he was holding her here against her will otherwise, because every member of my staff would testify that she seemed quite happy to be here. That would raise a lot of questions about your mutants that you don't want raised, Adam."  
  
The Mutant X team stared at him in outrage. He continued, "Don't think I'm insensitive to the situation, though. I'll call off my people and let you go unharmed, if you let my son go unharmed."  
  
"That's up to Emma," Adam said in a quiet voice. "Emma?"  
  
Emma stared at Michael, wanting him dead, and thinking how easy it would be. . . .But they didn't kill people wantonly. That wasn't what Mutant X was all about, and it would damage everything Adam had worked for. Maybe I should let Brennan zap him, she thought.  
  
All the while, Michael shrank back further away from her. He tried one last time to send her a false emotion. She was ready for it, and deflected it as easily as swatting a fly. Emma grew calmer, realizing that now that she knew what Michael Vincent was like, he could never again gain the upper hand over her. His powers were strong, but hers were stronger. Stronger than anyone but her knew. And his powers were weakened from days of trying to control her emotions and memories.  
  
There was only one punishment short of death fitting for what Michael had done to her. Emma closed her eyes and opened herself up completely. She could feel the fear and love and concern and anger that surrounded her in the room, and the alarm of the security guards outside. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and sent a psionic blast at Michael that literally knocked him off his feet. He landed on the floor in a daze.  
  
"Emma?" Adam looked from Michael to her with an expression of astonishment on his face.  
  
"Michael!" Mr. Vincent ran over and knelt by his son. "What have you done to him?"  
  
"I've done you both a favor," Emma replied coldly. "When he wakes up, Michael's not going to remember he's a telempath. He's not going to remember me at all. Not that we were friends, and nothing that happened this week. And he's going to have a mother of a headache for the next few days."  
  
Brennan looked reluctantly satisfied, Jesse looked surprised and impressed, and Shalimar grinned at Emma.  
  
"Why is that doing me a favor?" Dale asked, still shaken.  
  
"Do you think I'm the only one he's been manipulating?" Emma said. "He may have saved the big guns for me, but he's been manipulating you his whole life. He hated both of his stepmothers; he told me so. You think your marriages fell apart on their own? Think again. They had a lot of help from Michael."  
  
Dale slowly stood, facing them. He looked down at his son and only heir. "I always wondered. . . ." he began. "Maybe this is for the best," he conceded.  
  
"Are we going to have trouble when we leave, Dale?" Adam asked.  
  
Dale shook his head, defeated. He opened the door and the guards began to press in. "Stand down! Everything's under control. Our guests are leaving now. Get Dr. Zeddig here right away. My son. . .fainted." He turned and gave Adam the look of a man who has been trumped.  
  
Adam took Emma's hand in his and led her out the door, followed by the others.  
  
* * * * * "How do you think she's doing?" Jesse asked no one in particular. He, Shalimar, and Brennan were slumped on various pieces of furniture in the lounge.  
  
"Right now, terrible. In time, she'll get better. With Adam's help. I know what it's like to have someone get into your head when you don't want them there-thanks to Gabriel-but it wasn't just Emma's head Michael got into." She left the rest unsaid, knowing it didn't need saying. "She's going to need time."  
  
"I still think she went too easy on the creep." Brennan played with a tiny bolt of electricity he had created between his fingers. "I'd have crisped him."  
  
"I'd have phased him halfway through that brick wall and left him there," Jesse added.  
  
"It wasn't your call. It was Emma's." Shal glanced down the hall toward the bedrooms, thinking of her friend.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Emma and Adam lay curled up on her bed together. She was in a robe, having showered for nearly half an hour when they got back, trying to wash all traces of Michael off her. Adam held her secure in his arms and stroked her damp hair soothingly. She clung to his warmth, reminding herself of what was real in her life. Adam was real. Adam's love for her and her love for him was real. "I wonder how many other girls he did that to?"  
  
"What makes you think there were others?"  
  
Emma stared at the opposite wall. "His father said something about me being the first girlfriend he'd brought home who seemed right for him. I wonder what happened to the others?"  
  
"Well, he won't be doing that to anyone else again. I got a message when we got back from Dale Vincent. It looks like he didn't trust your solution to the Michael problem. He turned his son over to Eckhart. They put him in a stasis pod."  
  
Emma pulled back long enough to look at him in surprise. "Normally, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. But in this case, I can't say I'm sorry."  
  
"Neither can I." Adam's tone was sad, though.  
  
Emma's eyes stayed on his face, lined from the cares of the past week, knowing she was responsible for most of those cares. He was such a good man. "I'm so sorry. I should have been stronger. I never should've let my guard down."  
  
Adam reached for her, and brushed her hair back out of her face. "No, don't you ever feel sorry for that. You shouldn't have to go through life with your guard constantly up, wondering if someone's going to take advantage of you. This was not your fault. You're stronger than anyone I know, Emma. You're also the most compassionate person I know. Never lose that quality. It's what makes you special."  
  
"When I think of how I let him touch me," she began, shuddering, "it makes me sick. I love you, Adam, I never would've betrayed you like that if--"  
  
Adam's voice grew thick with emotion. "You did not betray me. He forced himself on you. It was telempathic rape. You were the victim, sweetheart. Do not blame yourself. Blame him."  
  
Emma began crying softly, and Adam took her in an embrace again. "Remember what you told me, that night you came to me in the gym? That I shouldn't beat myself up? That I was a good person? Well, you're best person I know. And you're strong. You'll get through this. We'll get through this together."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"I promise. Have faith in me. In us."  
  
She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arm around him, hugging him tightly. "I do, Adam. I always have, and I always will."  
  
THE END 


End file.
